


Sex Ed 101

by Arsenic, arsenicarcher (Arsenic)



Series: 14 Valentines [53]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-21
Updated: 2009-07-21
Packaged: 2020-11-07 14:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20818982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenic/pseuds/Arsenic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arsenic/pseuds/arsenicarcher
Summary: Written for 14v 2009.  Theme: Health.





	Sex Ed 101

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to and for the beta and encouragement.

Giving up Earth wasn't as hard as Jennifer suspected maybe it should have been. Stargate command had dangled the possibility of new medicines and treatments, a cutting edge lab, in front of her face, and she'd asked, "Where's the Stargate?"

She'd told her folks she was working at a top secret base in the Arctic. She hadn't really had any friends to say anything to, so she'd packed up her one personal item, a few changes of clothes, and a toothbrush. Then, she spent a few weeks reading up on all the unpublished articles Carson Beckett had on the intranet, the stuff she hadn't had time for at Command.

***

Atlantis offered everything Jennifer had been promised--often with a little more action than she would have technically preferred--but the truth was that most days her job was about writing scripts for penicillin or being called in for a consult on sprained muscles. Jennifer was a doctor first, a researcher second.

The difference--unfortunate, as Jennifer saw it--between being a doctor on earth, in an office with lollipops at the front and nice little brochures about drugs, and being a doctor on Atlantis, was that the world's best and brightest seem to expect miracles. Just because Jennifer had the latest medical technology at her fingertips didn't mean she had Ancient cures. The scientists--hell, even the military, with their constant search for better weaponry--should have understood that, but they rarely did. Everyone expected miracles.

***

The worst diagnoses were when they were unexpected. People came in with aches and pains or symptoms that suggested something was, indeed, wrong, and when Jennifer or her team found the root, they weren't surprised to hear that something was, indeed, wrong. But when someone came in for their mandated yearly check up and Jennifer found something, something that hadn't given any sign of its presence, well, that was another kind of situation altogether.

So, for instance, the time she'd had to inform Noguera that she had lupus, and see in the woman's eyes that she knew exactly what that meant--there was a family history--and also the belief, founded in the _promise_ of what they were all doing in the city more than the _reality_, that it would be better for her, that Jennifer could "fix" her. The anger that came when she couldn't, while a completely normal aspect of response to trauma, was always so much deeper, so much more _personal_.

Jennifer was learning to handle it, the same as she was learning to exist on four hours of sleep and to defend herself against creatures much larger than her with supernatural strength, but that didn't make any of those things easy. Jennifer wasn't sure she remembered the definition of the word.

***

Then there were days when she really just wished Colonel Carter was still in the charge of the city. _Really_ wished that.

***

There were several moments of long, not-even-remotely comfortable silence before Mr. Wolsey asked, "You're certain?"

"Absolutely." There were things Jennifer could kind of see making up just to be funny. A rampant outbreak of herpes in the city? Not one of them.

"And there's nothing-- I mean, antivirals, won't--"

"Herpes is incurable, sir." _Unless you'd like to redirect technology find-and-seek missions to searching for a cure. And even then, good luck._

"Right. Of course. I suppose we ought to, ah."

Jennifer waited the requisite minute, even knowing he wasn't going to finish his sentence. Men who weren't doctors tended to get sqeamish about people's icky parts. _Humans_ who weren't doctors, did, for that matter. Well, the ones from earth did. Jennifer found both Teyla and Ronon to be largely unfazed by open talk about sex. It was a nice change. "We need to order a lot more condoms on the next earth run so that we can offer them more readily, we also need to organize mandatory information sessions."

"You don't think that perhaps some literature--"

"Information sessions. It'll harrass and embarrass most people, but it'll reach a few, whereas the literature people are unlikely to look at for fear of being found out. Herpes is very stigmatizing."

"No, certainly, you're right, it just seems that requiring sessions is a bit, ah, elementary?" He looked to her for support of this theory.

"We require them regularly on city safety and a yearly renewal of everyone's CPR licensing," Jennifer pointed out.

"That-- That is a point."

Jennifer had a lot of those. She just lost track of them in social situations. "You'll work with me on coordinating times and sending out notices?"

"If we could schedule a time next week, perhaps, to discuss--"

"Herpes is the _most_ communicable of all the sexually transmitted infections, sir, I really don't think--"

"Yes, yes. I'll clear some time this afternoon."

Jennifer smiled her very sweetest smile. "Thank you for all your help."

***

They held twenty-five sessions of roughly forty people apiece so that nobody would have to feel alone. Each of the medical staff took five sessions. Two of the doctors tried arguing and Jennifer suggested that they'd prefer to take a few extra emergency shifts. That had settled things fairly easily. Ronon had offered to stare them down for her, but she preferred to take care of things her own way. It was more effective in the long run.

***

Before SGA-1 headed out on a recon expedition, Jennifer asked, "Hey, Rodney, maybe see how they're doing on viral meds?"

"I doubt that the planet will have anything beyond a rudimentary understanding of their own language, but just in case, how would you like me to ask, 'hi, we as a people can't seem to keep it in our pants, would you be willing to help?'"

Jennifer thought for a second. "_Exactly_ like that would be perfect, thanks."


End file.
